The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development’s (ADDED) Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) has launched the ‘Industrial Sector Sustainability’ project.
The initiative aims at adopting a sustainable approach to all industrial facilities manufacturing operations in Abu Dhabi.
The project will also help boost the production and quality of industrial goods, in line with the Sustainable Development Plan of the Abu Dhabi Government and its initiatives to protect the environment as part of the Emirates’ bid to become internationally competitive and a leading model for sustainability-based regional and international industries.
The project ‘Industrial Sector Sustainability’ will provide an industrial sustainability instructional guide to building owners and managers, industrial warehouses and manufacturing companies, storage areas, administrative buildings, and offices with an area of less than 2,000 square meters. The first step will see the implementation of the standards included in the instructional guide, and it will cover 21 industrial plants located in Abu Dhabi across seven separate manufacturing segments.
In addition, the latest project is set to assess current sustainability practices in the industrial sector of Abu Dhabi. The system involves data collection and evaluation, conducting normative studies, identifying goals and opportunities, creating sector-specific sustainability guidelines, and spreading awareness across the industry about the sustainability measures needed.
Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa Chairman, ADDED.
“The Industrial Sector Sustainability project is one of the most significant initiatives through which we seek to achieve the highest level of sustainability in the industrial sector, as well as upgrade all industrial production mechanisms and enhance industry efficiency and quality. Over the coming period, we also aim to expand the project’s scale to include as many industrial facilities as possible across Abu Dhabi.”
ADDED’s undersecretary, Rashed Abdul Karim Al Balooshi, clarified that the project aims to achieve the key performance indicators (KPIs) set for 2020-2040. The key goals include reducing 15% energy use by 2040, controlling water use in industrial operations by 100% by 2025, achieving zero water wastage, minimizing and diverting industrial waste from landfill by 75% by 2030, minimizing industrial carbon dioxide emissions by 15% by 2030, and educating employees and increasing awareness regarding sustainability by 100%.
The IDB would encourage manufacturing facilities to perform comprehensive energy and water use audits to optimize their use and encourage companies to begin to maintain data on their by-products and how to recycle and better reuse them. This will be accomplished by organizing a sustainability steering committee, whose members will include industrial developers and owners of facilities. They will be responsible for enforcing industrial sustainability guidelines. The project also aims to introduce incentive programs to encourage participation.
When implementing the first phase of the project, the IDB will concentrate on 21 industrial facilities operating in seven sectors, namely iron and steel, aluminum, paper and pulp, construction materials, cement, plastics and food.
